Start of School 2015

I taught high school math in public school for 7 years before Luke was born. This year will be our 7th year of homeschooling. At the end of this year, maybe I can decide which teaching experience I prefer? ha! ;) I'm on the fence. I have mixed feelings about teaching my own kids. While I certainly treasure the time with my kids (I truly do!), I find that I may have been more patient with the kids who went home to their own families at the end of the day. It's hard to know. My public school teaching career was a LONG time ago. I was much younger and more vivacious then. Now, every time I turn around one of my students is right there! There is no escape. ;) ha! [Carving out more time for me to recharge my batteries is one of my goals for this school year. very necessary...]

At the end of our school year it was unknown if we would continue homeschooling. We sorted through all sorts of different scenarios for each kid, and somehow the Lord led us back to all four at home. We do have some new activities to make it a successful year.

Positive Changes:
* Luke will be taking classes away from home on Monday and Thursday from around 9-2.
(Writing, science, history, and art)

* Ethan will still be taking classes away from home, but only on Mondays. (history, science, and art)

* Irina will be working with a tutor once a week. We are also seeking out a speech therapist to work with her on her speech and diction.

And so... here we go! We got started on Wednesday, August 26th. Overall, it has been a terrific start.

Love that Aaron and Ethan picked out their old "Smith Academy" t-shirts that I made several years ago. Do you see how long Irina's hair is getting? (more on that later!)

This picture above perfectly captures the attitudes at the start of our school year. Three smiling faces and one little pip squeak. Hoping, the little red head shakes the cobwebs from his brain and clicks into gear. What a character he has been!! Ack!

I didn't have time for lots of start of school hoop-la. We returned from PA on Monday night and then started school on Wednesday morning. The kids requested this breakfast and were happy for the return of heartier breakfasts after our quick grab and go breakfasts of the summer. (They had second helpings and Ethan arranged his egg in this fashion... not me!)

The four pictures above crack me up! Their mug shots. 

Lastly, our only new gimmicks of the school year are seen below.

I LOVE this clock. I have two kids who are so distractible and lose track of time. After 11 days of school, I feel very confident that it is helping them to SEE how much time is left until break time, or our next transition. In the bottom picture, the digital clock with the green light changes to yellow when there are only 10 minutes left. It then changes to red when there is one minute left. 

This school year did not start with a well rested teacher. The summer didn't provide as much respite as I had hoped. However, the Lord says, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28  Praise the Lord for drawing me close. I am coming to Him and eager to share my burdens with Him. I have been so encouraged in prayer over the last weeks. My prayer is that the more I spend time with my eyes fixed on Him in prayer, the more I will reflect His Spirit and character. And maybe, just maybe, He will enable me to be more patient and loving. I'm excited to see God at work this school year and look forward to boasting in Him.